Tag:heathcote
Like many towns in Victoria, Heathcote got its start during the gold rush of the 1850s. Before discovering gold, the area was an open box forest, but that all changed with the discovery of gold. The creation of the geological phenomenon of pink cliffs was caused by hydraulic sluicing, a type of mining used in the late 1870s to 1880s that washed away the top layer of soil and revealed the dramatic and colourful cliffs below.

Hydraulic Sluicing
Hydraulic sluicing is a mining method that employs high-pressure jets of water to blast away large areas of earth and wash it down and through a sluice box. Gold gets caught in the sluice, with the remaining slurry washed away. This mining method is extremely effective but causes significant environmental damage and impacts waterways and agricultural operations. Hydraulic sluicing at the Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve was halted in 1890 due to such damage being wrought on the local landscape.

Miners
The goldfields of Heathcote rang to the sounds of 1270 working miners in 1865. Of these, 1200 were European and 70 Chinese. Miners came to the goldfields from across the globe – from Great Britain, Europe, South Africa, China and Chile. Sailors left ships; farmers walked off farms. Wives accompanied many of the men and set themselves up as bar owners, washerwomen or cooks. As the surface gold became scarce, miners moved onto other goldfields, returned to the farms or obtained jobs with the growing deep mining operators.

The ‘cliffs’ themselves are small hills of the remaining granite, riddled with reddish-brown cracks filled with quartz. The quartz became stained with iron-rich solutions, and erosion has led to the moonscape type appearance.

The Colours
The colours of the cliffs change during the day depending on the type of light. There are two lookouts; according to Parks Victoria, the scenic circuit walk takes 30 mins and takes you past both the upper and lower lookouts. Allow a good hour or more if you have a camera in hand 😉 We visited in the middle of the day, but I would love to go back and see them around sunset.


Location
Park in the carpark opposite 68 Pink Cliffs Road, Heathcote and walk in.
With a gorgeous day forecast for Sunday, we took a drive up to Tahbilk Winery at Nagambie before going to the Pink Cliffs at Heathcote. Along the way, we found and stopped for Canola fields bordered by Wattle shrubs and Gum trees.


Established in 1860 Tahbilk is the most beautiful and historic family owned winery in Australia, located in one of the nation’s premium viticultural areas. The property itself comprises some 1,214 hectares of rich river flats with a frontage of 11 kms to the Goulburn River and 8 kms of permanent backwaters and creeks.
Tahbilk Winery

The Winery
Tahbilk is a lovely old winery, established in 1860 and bordered on two sides by the Tahbilk Lagoon and Goulburn river. The cellar door is open seven days a week, and the very popular cafe is definitely one you need to book for. Its been in the Purbrick family since 1925, with five generations of the family at the helm.

We tried the Sauvignon Blanc and Verdelho.. and liberated a bottle of the Verdelho to bring home with us.

Downstairs from the cellar is the old, old cellars still in use. They’ve been there since 1867. The floor is worn in front of the barrels. You wonder how many people have worked there over the last 151 years


Leaving Tahbilk winery, we drove to Mitchelton winery. However, they had a large wedding with people and cars everywhere, so we moved on and stopped at Nagambie lakes for lunch before heading to Heathcote and the Pink Cliffs.


Pink Cliffs
I found the cliffs VERY underwhelming. They are a series of small, sandy white and reddish rocks and mounds, with a few boulders and lots of gravel and sand. I did do one HDR, which turned out ok. But overall, they are not a place I would bother returning to, and ‘pink’ is drawing a very longbow.

Update
It turned out we were in the wrong place. We were only on the outer, smaller edge of the pink cliffs. I found the area everyone was raving about – and it was fabulous.